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Alright, I wrote a bunch of this at camp, and it's a really long chapter, so NO COMPLAINING about how long it took. Hope you like it!
()()Chapter four()()
Hermione woke to the sounds of Ginny and Draco's voices. Hermione walked into the common room, still in her pj's.
"Gin?" she asked, "What are you going here?"
"I came by to get you to go shopping!! Everyone got their invites this morning and we need robes, cloaks, and masks! Aren't you excited!?!" Ginny was nearly jumping up and down as Draco and Hermione unsuccessfully held back their laughter.
"Don't laugh at me!" Ginny protested, "Go get ready! We're leaving!" Hermione trudged back to her room and re-appeared 30 minutes later, showered and dressed in a khaki miniskirt with a black tank top and black knee high boots.
Draco rose immediately, being taught to rise when a woman enters the room. He got the familiar feeling in his stomach that he always got when he saw her in those boots. Ginny and Hermione big goodbye to Draco and took their leave.
Ginny smiled mischievously. "What?" questioned Hermione.
"Oh, nothing, just excited about shopping," Ginny answered untruthfully.
"I don't doubt that you shopping maniac," Hermione smiled at her best friend; Ginny laughed.
!!!Flashback!!!
Draco stared at the parchment he had received the night before. "What is that?" Ginny asked.
For some unknown reason, Draco found himself telling Ginny all about the anonymous profession of love. When she asked if she could read it, he complied.
Ginny handed back the parchment after reading it and recognizing the handwriting. "What do you think?" Draco questioned, nearly desperate.
"I think you should ask this person to the dance, anonymously."
"But-"
"No buts. I know you like Hermione, but are you really going to ask her?" Draco shook his head. "I didn't think so. Maybe you should just try this person."
Draco smiled, "You really are clever."
"Alright, here's what you do."
!!!End flashback!!!
Hermione and Ginny walked into Andromedia's Dress Robes for Women. The two browsed for a few minutes until Hermione squealed, "OOOOOH! Gin, come here! This would be absolutely perfect on you!" she held up a set of snow-white dress robes. The sleeves belled out and had a long point. The bodice was low cut and slim. The long skirt flared out over the hips.
As Ginny stepped out of the fitting room, Hermione gasped, "They're perfect! Absolutely perfect!"
Ginny spun in a slow circle, smiling. "I love them." She changed back into her clothes and started shifting through robes, looking for the pair just right for Hermione.
Many robes later, Hermione stepped out of the fitting room in a robe exactly the same as Ginny's but in emerald green with black trim. The color brought out the green in her eyes and made them look greener than ever. She spun for Ginny, "I feel so pretty."
"You are! You have to get them! I am forcing you!"
The two paid for their robes and walked to a small café to get ice cream before resuming their shopping because Hermione hadn't eaten breakfast.
First, they went to Shoes Shoppe. Ginny picked out a pain of white, beaded, strappy platforms. She strutted around the shop, swimming her hips and look ridiculous.
Hermione laughed at Ginny while putting on the exact same shoe in black. "Wow, these are comfy!" she exclaimed as she followed Ginny's strut around the store.
Ginny laughed, "Same robes, same shoes...shall we buy matching underwear?" The whole store burst out laughing at the antics of the crazy teenagers.
Their next stop was a jewelry store. Hermione remembered her dragon bracelet and chose dangly emerald earrings and a plain silver chain necklace with a single emerald. Ginny chose earrings with 3 long silver strands with a sapphire at the end of each. Her necklace consisted of 3 silver strands with 3 sapphires hanging of the bottom strand. They added the jewelry bags to their arms and head to their last shop.
Magical Masquerade carried masks and cloaks. Ginny picked out a simple white beaded mask and a sapphire blue cloak with white trim and a beautiful hood (A/N think Galadriel's hood from LOTR FOTR)
Hermione selected a green mask with black trim. Her cloak was black with green silk lining and the same hood as Ginny.
The two trudged to The Leaky Cauldron with all their packages and squeezed into a booth with Harry and Ron. The boys asked what the girls had bought, but the girls refused to tell. Ron was anonymously going with Lavender and, of course, Harry and Ginny were going together.
MOO MOO MOO MOO
Draco walked down to the Great Hall. Since he had the musical expertise, and didn't need to shop as much as Hermione did, he told her he would take care of the band auditions while she shopped her heart out. When he arrived, there were several bands warming up.
"Good Afternoon, everyone! If you would please step into the hallway, I can begin auditions." The bands obediently filed out of the Great Hall. Draco sat down at the single table and took out a roll of parchment and a quill. The first band filed back in and set up.
"Name?" asked Draco.
"Pink Dominoes," answered the lead guitarist.
"What will you be playing for me?"
Two hours later, Draco was getting weary of listening to mediocre bands. He had chosen the Pink Dominoes but needed a band to play on the Pink Dominoes' break.
"Next," he called. After hear the door open and close, he asked, "Name?" without looking up.
The redhead leaning against the doorframe with a black hat tipped jauntily on his head answered in an American accent,
"Wild Animals."
QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK
Hermione, Ginny, Ron, and Harry walked out of the Leaky Cauldron.
"I don't see why you can't just show us!" Ron complained.
"Because that would ruin the element of surprise!" Hermione explained, exasperated.
Ron tripped over a root and fell into the tree. Hermione cracked up and the four laughed all the way back to Hogwarts.
RAWR RAWR RAWR RAWR
Draco walked to the owlry in an extremely good mood. He looked for the owl who had brought the note the night before. When he found it, the tiny owl jumped onto his arm.
"Take this to your owner, please," he said, before sending it off.
MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW
That night, an owl flew through Hermione's window. "Hi Rowling," she said. "What do you have for me?" Rowling cocked his head and stuck out his leg. Hermione took the letter and opened it.
Dear stranger,
Would you do the honor of going to the dance with me? Send your reply back with your owl. I'll be wearing a silver cloak. Meet me in the hall at the bottom of the stairs.
Hermione started at the letter in disbelief. What the hell was that? Who the hell was that? "GINNY!!"
Draco knocked on the door and opened it. "Did you just scream, 'GINNY!!'?"
"Erm, yes."
"May I enquire as to why?"
"Well, I got this letter," she handed it to him, "and I need to talk to her because she wanted to know if I got asked."
Draco saw the handwriting on the letter and paled more so than usual. Hermione stared at him thoughtfully, wondering why he was so pale all of a sudden. 'He should win an award for being really pale, or something,' she thought.
"Erm, well, you can write her a letter and have your owl deliver it ASAP. I must leave now. Goodnight."
On the way back to his room, Draco's mind raced. 'Damn that little Weasley! How dare she! She knew it was Hermione's handwriting! Oh wait until she is on the receiving end of the Malfoy wrath.' He grabbed a piece of parchment and scribbled
G-
Meet me outside the Great Hall at 8 tomorrow morning.
-D
Draco's owl flew through Ginny's window. She quickly read the note and wondered out loud, "What could this be about?"
No sooner had she said that, than Hermione's owl came through the window with
Gin! I got asked! Meet me for breakfast at 8:30!
-Mione
Ginny smiled evilly, "My evil plan is working! MUAH HA HA HAAA!" she smiled sweetly and shrugged.
Draco fell asleep fuming at Ginny. Hermione slept, wondering what was up with Draco and wanted to talk to Ginny. Ginny fell asleep laughing.
DOINK DOINK DOINK DOINK
The next morning, Draco woke up at 7, showered, dressed in all black, and went down to breakfast.
When he got to the Great Hall, Ginny was waiting for him. "You-you- you knew it was from her! You tricked me you little redhead rat! Are you sure you aren't a Malfoy?" Draco exploded.
"Hold on a minute. A) Did she answer yet? B) Has it occurred to you that she wrote what was on that proclamation of love? She likes you! C) How do you know it was to her?"
"No. Erm, not really. She showed me."
Ginny smacked Draco on the head and walked into the Great Hall. Draco stood there in shock. 'She likes me.'
Ginny sat down and helped herself to some eggs and toast. Hermione walked in and slid onto the bench next to her. She wordlessly handed the letter to Ginny, who read it over. "Sounds pretty cool, are you going to go with him?" Ginny asked.
"I don't know, what do you think?"
"I think you should, who knows, he could turn out to be Prince Charming."
Hermione battled with her thoughts for a minute. 'But what about Draco? Face it Hermione, he doesn't like you and never will. He might. No, he won't. Find someone else. Give this person a try.'
She pulled out a quill and a piece of parchment and wrote,
Yes, I would love to. I'll be wearing a green mask with black trim.
When she got up, she headed to the owlry and called down Rowling. "Take this to whoever sent you to me last night."
She headed upstairs, somewhat disappointed. She was glad she had a date, but inside she really wanted to go with Draco. But, that letter obviously wasn't from him. Why on earth would he want to go with her? Sure, he had changed, but it didn't change the fact that she was a Lion, and he a Snake. He was pureblood and she was muggleborn. She lay on the couch and closed her eyes. Soft tears streamed down her face. Minutes later, she had cried herself to sleep.
Draco came in before lunch to drop off some packages. He saw Hermione sleeping with dried mascara lines on her face. Grabbing his blanket (silver and green), he covered her up and smoothed her hair back from her face. He kissed her forehead and whispered, "Tomorrow, my love," before leaving.
In Hermione's dream, Draco kissed her forehead and said, "Tomorrow, my love."
Hermione woke to Draco's voice, "Hermione, come on, wake up. I brought you lunch."
She opened her eyes and saw his blanket. "You covered me up. You brought lunch? You didn't have to. Thanks."
"I wanted to, you should eat." Draco handed her the tray. "Eat up. I have to go get a present for my date in Hogsmeade. I asked Ginny to come be with you so you wouldn't have to be alone. She said she's bringing a bunch of magazines and something about make-up." Draco shrugged.
"Thanks Draco," Hermione smiled weakly before taking a bit of sandwich.
Draco squeezed her hand. "That's what I'm here for. You know you can always talk to me about anything that's bothering you," and he left. Hermione's hand tingled.
As Hermione was finishing lunch, Ginny walked in. "Aw, hun! What's wrong? Draco said you looked as if you cried yourself to sleep. He was really worried, which is majorly unlike him. What happened?"
"I said yes to Mr. Anonymous. And I don't want to go with anyone but Draco! But I can't have him! It's hopeless. I won't ever see him again. I don't even know where he's going after school. He'll never fade into a memory; he'll always stay near my heart. I won't ever let him go."
Ginny hugged Hermione tightly, "It'll all work out, I promise." Her heart wanted to tell so badly about her secret date. But her head knew the two would never take the first step if both knew who the other was and knew the other knew. And that was quite a lot of confusing thinking on just one subject.
The two spent the rest of the day picking out make-up and hair-do's for the next day. They were really excited to be graduating. The whole Weasley family was coming to see Ron and Ginny and the surrogate Weasleys: Hermione and Harry. Hermione could help but feel a little sad that her parents weren't there to see her graduate. She knew that was one of the things they wanted to see the most. But, she was graduating top of her class and that made her very happy. She knew her parents were looking down on her and were very proud of her.
Draco walked in after dinner with an unmarked rectangular box. Ginny said goodnight and headed off to dream of the next day.
Hermione curled up with her sketchbook while Draco took out his songbook.
Half an hour later, Draco glanced and Hermione. "What are you drawing?" he asked?
"You."
"Can I see?"
"When I'm done."
Draco nodded and bent his head over his book. Fifteen minutes later, Hermione looked up, glanced towards her door, and made a break for it. Draco dove out of his chair, knocking her to the floor.
"Oof! Get off!!"
"Not until I see that picture! You said I could!"
"I changed my mind. Get off now."
"No. If you won't show me...I guess I'll have to do...THIS!" Draco sat on Hermione and started tickling her mercilessly in the ribs. Hermione wriggled underneath him, screaming.
"NOOO!!!! AH!! HELP!!!! DON'T TICKLE ME!!!!! ALL RIGHT!!! I'll show you."
"That's better."
Hermione handed the drawing to Draco. He studied it, still sitting on top of her. Staring back at him was a perfect likeness of himself, sitting on the couch, concentrating on what he was writing. Hermione had caught the traces of emotion in his eyes. "Can I keep it?" he asked.
"Yeah, here, get off of me and I'll enchant it first," Hermione replied, wiggling and reaching for the parchment.
"No!" Draco clutched it to his chest. "I like it this way. Please?" he made puppy dog eyes.
Hermione smacked him with a nearby pillow. "Get off me. I can't breathe and I need to get my beauty rest."
"You don't need it," muttered Draco.
"What?"
"Nothing, goodnight."
Hermione looked at Draco strangely, and left the room. It dawned to her that Draco had a date and it wasn't her. She sighed faintly and pulled her covers up to her chest. Rolling over, she fell asleep quickly.
Draco paced back and forth in his room, nervous for the ball the next day. Finally, he made himself take a sleeping draught and caught some sleep before graduation day.
A/N So...did you guys like it? The next chapter is graduation and the ball. And I've already started writing it, so I think you can probably expect it some time soon. That is, if I get it done before Friday. Because then I won't be home until the 8th. Please review!!